Cleveland Cavaliers’ De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome are all smiles after an NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Cleveland, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
De’Andre Hunter made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30.8 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Cleveland Cavaliers to a stunning 133-129 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Hunter finished with 32 points and came up in the clutch after Anfernee Simons put Portland ahead 129-128 with a triple of his own with 44 seconds left.
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READ: NBA: Cavaliers shake off 22-point deficit to top Celtics
De’Andre Hunter picks a day to have a DAY 😤
🔥 32 PTS (most as a Cavalier)
🔥 Lifts Cavs to 50th win of season
🔥 Improves Cavs’ win streak to 10Cleveland has now had 3 different winning streaks of 10+ games this season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/avikgbLIk8
— NBA (@NBA) March 2, 2025
Shaedon Sharpe missed a floater and Deni Avdija had a 3-point attempt clang off the back rim following Hunter’s late make. Hunter then sealed the win with two free throws with four seconds left.
Ty Jerome provided 25 points off the bench for the Cavaliers, who also got 20 from Evan Mobley and 14 from Max Strus. Jarrett Allen (12 points, 10 rebounds) recorded a double-double as Cleveland won its 10th straight game.
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Avdija matched his season high of 30 points, tied his career high of 10 assists and also had 12 boards for his first career triple-double but couldn’t carry the Blazers to victory. Simons supplied 27 points, Toumani Camara collected 19 and Sharpe finished with 18 as Portland’s four-game winning streak came to an end.
Cleveland scored the first five points of overtime to build a 124-119 lead before the Trail Blazers came back to tie the game at 126.
Simons forced the extra session by making two free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to draw Portland even at 119. Darius Garland had failed to give the Cavaliers a three-point advantage just seconds earlier by splitting a pair of foul shots.
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It was tied at 115 when Strus brought the home crowd to its feet with a 3-pointer with 15.6 seconds to go. Simons answered with two free throws to make it a one-point game at 118-117 before later taking advantage of the Garland miss at the charity stripe.
The Cavaliers held out star Donovan Mitchell for rest.
Cleveland put together a stunning comeback for the second straight game after overcoming a 22-point deficit to down the Boston Celtics on Friday.
On Sunday, the Cavaliers found themselves in an 18-point hole when Simons sank a 3-pointer with 1:53 left in the third quarter to give Portland an 89-71 cushion.
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The hosts followed with a 14-0 run that bridged the final two quarters, with Jerome draining a pair of free throws to make it 89-85 with 10:25 remaining in the game. Cleveland didn’t pull ahead until there was 4:55 to go, doing so when Hunter made good from deep for a 104-103 edge.
Portland led 54-42 at the break but had to settle for an 89-79 advantage after three quarters.
